Cartoon Physics
by wolfbane17
Summary: Ten-year-olds should stick with burning houses, car wrecks, ships going down - earthbound, tangible disasters, arenas where they can be heroes. You can run back into a burning house, sinking ships have lifeboats, the trucks will come with their ladders, if you jump, you will be saved.
1. The Universe is Ever-Expanding

**Written for an AvengersKink prompt: gen teamfic, angsty kid!fic**

"They're all children - between 8 and 12, maybe. They live out in the country, and while backgrounds would obviously have to be tweaked, they still have incredibly fucked up backstories. This would take place over a summer break.

Think fishing on the lake and climbing trees and sneaking Bruce in through a window because his dad's violent-drunk tonight, and putting ice on Clint's swollen lip, and Pepper always pressing food into hands, and Natasha fierce and cold and lonely, and the way they bend and give for each other, like kids are so often so eager to do.

Angstyness with dollops of sweet and a happy or hopeful ending?"

* * *

It all starts with Phil. He's just turned twelve and it's been two weeks since his little brother's funeral and he runs to the woods, ignoring the sweltering heat of summer.

He just couldn't stand his parents fighting anymore, the despair that seems to cover every wall, every table, every heart and gesture.

The dilapidated cabin is next to a pristine lake, hidden there amongst the trees, tall poplars and oaks.

He finds two eleven-year olds inside, sitting in the floor overrun with leaves and dirt, playing cards. A boy with dark hair and chocolate brown eyes and a girl with fiery orange hair and freckles.

They look at each other for the longest time and then the boy smiles, quick and bold.

"Sit down, beanpole, the bet is at two chocolate bars and a pack of gum."

* * *

Tony Stark is a boy with a quicksilver mind. Phil knows who his father is and about the Stark's massive empire and he's just a tad bit nervous as he accepts the offer.

Pepper Potts smiles at him, gentle and kind and Phil smiles back.

* * *

Phil brings Steve Rogers next, because even though Steve is a year younger, he's the bravest boy Phil's ever met.

Steve stood up to the bullies that were trying to pick on Phil, even though there were three of them and they were thirteen.

There's a sadness in his eyes too (his dad left his mother a little under a month ago, and she's very, very sick), the same shadowed look that Phil sees in the mirror so he brings the boy to the clearing and the cabin and the lake and the trees.

Pepper is glad to welcome another playmate and though Tony regards the new boy with open distrust, they reach a level of passive acceptance after a couple of hours.

* * *

Phil finds Clint one day when he's walking home. The boy is sitting behind a dumpster, shaking, and he glares at Phil, daring him to say something.

Phil does. Because the boy's eyes are dark with misery and hate and Phil has a thing for strays, something in his heart that twists with sympathy and empathy for limping dogs and flea-ridden cats and broken-winged birds.

"Come with me."

The boy looks at his outstretched hand, searching his face.

"There's someone I need to get first."

And that's how the eleven-year old Clint Barton leads Phil to Natasha Romanov, and how the three of them set off for the woods.

* * *

Thor and Loki Odinson find the cabin on their own. Thor is loud and open, the same age as Phil but that's where the similarities end.

Loki is ten, shy but witty and Tony instantly enlists him in The Fight Against Steve.

* * *

The last one to join their group is Bruce Banner and he is found by Tony. He's the child of one of his father's employees and so very, very quiet. He flinches from touch like Clint, like Loki, and Phil suspects but doesn't want to say anything.

They spend their days together like that, lost in each other's company.

The cynical side of Phil tells him that they're just pretending, that they're fooling themselves and that what they've put together, akin to a collection of broken toys, won't and cannot last. It's still nice to sit at the dock and watch the still waters and believe that, even if just for a few seconds, the world can be quiet and beautiful.

* * *

Cartoon Physics, Part 1  
By Neil Flynn

Children under, say, ten, shouldn't know  
that the universe is ever-expanding,  
inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies

swallowed by galaxies, whole

solar systems collapsing, all of it  
acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning

the rules of cartoon animation,

that if a man draws a door on a rock  
only he can pass through it.  
Anyone else who tries

will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds  
should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,  
ships going down - earthbound, tangible

disasters, arenas

where they can be heroes. You can run  
back into a burning house, sinking ships

have lifeboats, the trucks will come  
with their ladders, if you jump

you will be saved. A child

places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus,  
& drives across a city of sand. She knows

the exact spot it will skid, at which point  
the bridge will give, who will swim to safety  
& who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn

that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff  
he will not fall

until he notices his mistake.


	2. At Ten We Are Still Learning

**Written for an AvengersKink prompt: gen teamfic, angsty kid!fic**

"They're all children - between 8 and 12, maybe. They live out in the country, and while backgrounds would obviously have to be tweaked, they still have incredibly fucked up backstories. This would take place over a summer break.

Think fishing on the lake and climbing trees and sneaking Bruce in through a window because his dad's violent-drunk tonight, and putting ice on Clint's swollen lip, and Pepper always pressing food into hands, and Natasha fierce and cold and lonely, and the way they bend and give for each other, like kids are so often so eager to do.

Angstyness with dollops of sweet and a happy or hopeful ending?"

* * *

**At Ten We Are Still Learning**

The first time that Bruce comes with a hand-shaped bruise on his arm, he casts his gaze sideways, tries to hide it, pull his arm away and behind him, but they've already seen.

Phil remains calm but Steve is instantly on his feet, cards forgotten, demanding to know who hurt him.

What comes out isn't all that surprising to Phil, thought it's still just as horrifying.

* * *

Clint confesses to his demons one day as they sit on the pier, legs in the lake water, the sun setting behind them, two boys whose shadows cast are so much older.

"When I walked in…he was…he was touching her."

Nothing but furious disgust in Clint's tone, young voice hard and Phil nods mutely, too shocked to speak.

It's the story of Clint and Natasha and the foster parent who tried to get between them. Who wrongly believed that he could take advantage of a young girl and not suffer any consequences.

"I suspected…but she never wanted to tell me. She'd just…every time he'd beat me, she took care of me. And I…he never once hit her but he…I saw him and what he was doing and I lost it."

Clint looks down, at the hands that Phil now knows are capable of murder, as small as they are.

"I just wanted to scare him…I didn't mean to –to…"

Clint flinches hard at first but Phil just draws him in, embrace as tight and comforting as he can make it.

"Barney, my older brother…he, he's never, ever been there for me, but that time… he took the blame… He took the blame."

Clint cries softly against his shoulder.

* * *

The inside covers of Steve's sketchbook are covered in glossy, colorful photographs. His mother is in most, a golden retriever in a few.

Looking at the pictures Phil does a double-take. He and Steve are the same age but the blond is at least four inches taller.

Steve just laughs warmly. "I used to be smaller when I was younger. A doctor came around the city, Dr. Erskine. Gave me some vitamins...I think they were called Vita-rays or something like that. They weren't very tasty."

Phil smiles at that, continuing to flip through the notebook. It's a privilege that he's thankful for (Steve keeps his drawings to himself even when the others tease him for it). Steve has fast become his best friend, someone that Phil deeply respects and looks up to.

He doesn't think he will ever forget Steve's unfailing courage.

"Is your mom any better?" Phil asks after a while, cursing himself even as the words spill forth, knowing he's ruining the mood.

"Not really." Steve says, voice strong. But his blue eyes are far away, swimming in unshod tears.

"You could ask Tony, maybe he can help," Phil blurts out in a small moment of desperation. He hates seeing Steve in pain, the way Steve works odd jobs all over, all the time, because his father left him and his mother is much too sick.

Tony is rich, but he and Steve are always at odds. It's been three months since they all found each other but both boys can barely stand to be in the same room.

Phil winces. Shouldn't have said that.

Steve swallows, "Do you think that Stark... that he would really help?"

Phil thinks. He himself barely knows Tony. As the unofficial secret keeper of the group, Phil has gained the trust of all the others, even Loki to an extent. But Tony remains distant. And yet, he plays with them constantly, lets them use the cabin. Pepper is Tony's best friend (besides Rhodey), and Pepper is really, really nice and wouldn't be friends with someone who isn't also nice, even if Tony doesn't really show it.

"It's worth a try."

* * *

When Phil thinks of how things might go, he tends to be realistic. He knows how Tony can be, how what he says and the way he says it can cut.

When Steve makes his request, Tony answers with an easy smirk and careless chuckle, "Can't make the rent for your shack, Steve?"

The words chafe, and hard.

Before Phil can rise to Steve's defense, Clint is stepping forward. He's around the same size as Tony, but in that instant he towers over him. The glowering sneer on his face is real, and furious, and Phil wonders if these are the eyes of the boy who brought up the courage to stab a man in the chest, right in the heart.

But Tony doesn't back down.

"You think you own the world, don't you? Clint growls. Steve is trying to get between them now and Bruce is quickly moving towards the door while both Thor and Natasha watch anxiously. Phil wishes that Pepper were here, because if anyone can rein Tony in, it is her. Tony isn't the least bit intimidated, rising up, shoulders forward and set.

"Are you two idiots done with your spat yet?" The novelty of Loki speaking is enough to stall all activity. Later, Loki will confide in Phil, "I just wanted them to stop."

Even later, Tony will come to him and say, "Rogers won't accept handouts. I'll see if Jarvis can finagle some yard work for him. And for you and Clint, so it doesn't look like he's being singled out."

Phil finds himself surprised.

* * *

Tony has a notebook too, a much nicer one than Steve's 3-for-a-dollar kind. Phil catches sight of it one day, abandoned on the main table inside the cabin. He knows he shouldn't, not without permission, but the curiosity is overpowering. Inside he finds detailed schematics and diagrams, weapons and death. Finds his gut roiling. Turns the page. A circular object, colored in with light, pure blue.

Angry hands snatch the notebook from him, angry brown eyes stare him down. "Didn't figure you for a snoop, Phil. You know, curiosity killed the cat."

"Tony, that's –we didn't know."

Tony grips the book tightly and when he looks up, the emotions are clear on his face. Disgust, self-deprecation, fury, careless grin long gone. "If I don't produce…I need to be useful, do you understand?" Tony looks desperate, but Phil cannot understand. All his life, even now when his family is falling apart, he's known love as an unconditional thing, not a barter or trade or commodity.

Tony tires of waiting for an answer, and his defenses slam back into place. "Look, just, uh, leave it alone next time, ok?"

As Tony is walking out of the Cabin, Phil works up the courage to say, "You're not alone anymore."

Tony says nothing in response before walking out.

* * *

Tony Stark has a heart.

They learn that the hard way.

Phil doesn't really remember how it started anymore. For all he knows, they were playing something one moment, and the next –the next Tony and Clint are face-to-face in anger again. He vaguely remembers that Tony said something, something careless. Phil has learned that Tony says things he doesn't mean all the time, but Clint is long tired of being put down, and Tony's money and status rankles, even when they try very hard not to notice the privilege they believe the boy enjoys.

He and Pepper run into the cabin, called in by the ruckus.

Clint is almost screaming as he sends Tony back with a hard shove. Steve calls for him to stop, but Clint doesn't listen, not this time.

"I'm tired of your games, of what you say to me! Nothing more than a little rich boy who doesn't know anything!"

"You're welcome to walk away, any time you want," Tony returns, ignoring Pepper's plea to stop.

Clint sneers. He aims to hurt, he is still just a child, so susceptible to emotion and its power. "But what do you have, really? No friends, that's for one. I've yet to ever see your mom, and your dad hates you, I've heard your rich buddies talk about it. He doesn't even love you, does he?"

He's gone too far. Loki is bristling, and Bruce is near tears.

But Tony...

Tony's face is pale, and he stumbles back, hand going up, fisting his shirt tightly, breathless. Pepper is at his side in an instant, pushing past Clint and Steve. Her small hands settle on either side of Tony's face.

"Tony? Tony, you need to calm down, okay? Breathe, okay? Breathe."

She and Tony breathe together, like everything and everyone else has disappeared.

"It wasn't...Clint's fault...didn't know...okay...Pep?" Tony's ragged breathing slowly returns to normal, and they all stay quiet, watching, shocked.

Pepper simply embraces Tony, tucks his head against the crook of her shoulder and neck.

"His heart is sick," She explains.

Tony mumbles something inaudible.

"He didn't want to tell you."

Clint runs.


End file.
